It appears Julianne Moore will be terrifying as Chloë Grace Moretz’s mother in the upcoming adaptation of Carrie, but the actress was in full nurturing-mom mode today at the 21 Club, where she attended a luncheon and Q&A hosted by Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein of The Moms. Moore was there to promote her new picture book, My Mom Is a Foreigner, But Not to Me, based on her own experience of growing up in the U.S. with a Scottish mother. The book is full of rhymes and watercolors (by Meilo So, a non-American mom herself) of multicultural parents with closets full of kimonos and kids faced with stinky cheese and Marmite on toast.
Moore’s audience was full of mommy bloggers, many of whom had logistical questions about raising a child in a different culture from one’s own upbringing. The actress comforted one woman who said her children made fun of her Brazilian accent: “What happens is, every memory, every instance you have of your mom’s foreignness is the thing that is the most familiar to you: the accent, and the kissing, and the food, and the clothes,” she explained. And in the end, many things about childhood are universal. One example? “Middle school stinks,” she offered. And as for Moore’s tips on juggling three movies, two kids, and a new book, she provided another universal solution: “Wine!”
